Interestingly, these theories were announced before the calamitous string of incidents that have postponed the LHC from finding the hallowed Higgs boson particle.

Future shock

In the article it states: "Since LHC will produce particles of a mathematically new type of fundamental scalars, ie, the Higgs particles, there is potentially a chance to find unseen effects, such as on influence going from future to past, which we suggest in the present paper."

The pair then go on to explain the effects the LHC may have on the future by way of a card game.

Although this theory has been royally bashed in a number of science blogs, as the New York Times points out, the physicists believe it to be crazy too but: "While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus. In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus."

Heady stuff, and while it might be total nonsense and not explain the reasons behind the LHC being broken, it does sound as if the physicists may well have cracked the barmy plot of Lost. And that can only be a good thing.